The Devil You Know
by fc2001
Summary: It's hard to explain this story, or where it came from, it's a Chen/Dave scenario but with a twist. It isn't finished yet either but r/r please before I write anymore.....
1. Chapter 1: Not That Different...

"The Devil You Know"  
  
I don't own any of the familiar ER characters (Chen, Malucci, Michael) I have fabricated things from Dave's past. Therefore, I do own Emma Halliday and her daughter Isla. This is set sometime during or just after series 7.   
  
***** - denotes a change in time/place - either to the past or to focus on Emma and not on Chen/Malucci.  
  
"You really believe we're that different?"  
"Yeah, I do,"  
She answered, continuing on down the corridor.  
"We aren't."  
She turned and faced him, expecting to see an expression almost the polar opposite of what she saw.   
"Oh no?"  
Chen crossed her arms, faintly annoyed at being involved in yet another pointless argument with him. It was getting old now. She'd said no - how many more times would she have to say it?  
"No,"  
"Go on then, explain yourself,"  
She challenged when he paused.  
"For a start we both have children we never see,"  
"Huh?"  
She was slightly startled - not only by the mention of Michael but also by the context of the sentence itself. He had a child? How? What??  
"You have Michael, who is obviously adopted and you never see, and I've got Isla,"  
"Excuse me?"  
"It's a long story,"  
"Is anything ever simple with you?"  
"I could say the same thing about you,"  
She backed down a little.  
"So how old is she?"  
"Isla? Nearly 5,"  
Chen did a quick mental calculation.  
"She was born during your time in Grenada."  
"Yes,"  
"Is that why it's a long story?"  
Chen sighed. She could only imagine the details. She didn't want to know.   
"Yes,"  
He answered sheepishly, looking to the floor ashamed.   
"Enough said,"  
******  
"How do I know it's even mine?"  
He demanded angrily. The blonde backed down, shocked.  
"Why would I lie to you?"  
She was on the verge of tears. She looked down at her stomach and back at him, pain filling her deep blue eyes.  
"I don't remember..."  
He didn't need to finish the sentence. He was calling her a liar. Of all the people he was calling her a liar.  
"Let's just say you wouldn't,"  
She practically yelled it at him, deeply hurt, bitterly angry. This child was his and she'd make him pay for it, whether he remembered conception or not. She wasn't a slut.  
"What are you saying?"  
"I'm saying you were too damned high to remember anything. I don't sleep around. It has to be yours,"  
She stood her ground. She'd get his support one way or another.  
"What do you want from me then?"  
"I just want support, that's all, I don't have anyone else,"  
A sad fact in itself, but brutally true.  
"Are you going to keep it?"  
He spat the words like they were poison. She smiled gently, seeing the bitterness in his expression at the very thought. Damn, this would just teach him wouldn't it?  
"Yes,"  
"You can't! Emma, you're halfway through college - this'll ruin your life,"  
"What you mean is you can't face responsibility. You couldn't care less about me, what you mean is it'd ruin your promising medical career,"  
Her words hit home as they were supposed to. She knew he was a coward. She knew she was taking a risk. But she was willing to anyway. She couldn't kill a child just because it had the wrong father. She couldn't bring herself to do it.   
"Emma..."  
She turned and walked away from him then, disgusted. His last word lingered in the air behind her.  
******  
"That doesn't make us similar,"  
Chens words brought him back from his daydream.  
"Maybe not, but I know more than you think,"  
"Why don't you see her?"  
Chen asked, morbidly fascinated.  
"Her mother and I...we fell out a long time ago,"  
"Before she was born?"  
"Yes,"  
"You're a bastard you know that?"  
She didn't need to say it but she wasn't the first. He knew it but he couldn't change it.  
******  
"You have a daughter,"  
Emma's voice on the other end of the phone sounded harsh. It had been months since he'd seen her.   
"What?"  
"She had to be born eventually, she wasn't going to stay a fetus forever you know,"  
"I know,"  
"She's called Isla, in case you care,"  
"Emma, I do care,"  
He pleaded, but he could tell the blonde wasn't listening. It was too late and inside he knew that.   
"Just stay away from us. We don't need you now,"  
His actions were unforgivable, and in that moment, knowing he'd never see his own daughter, he felt it more than ever. How could he have done that to her?  
******  
"It's not really the same thing is it?"  
Chen threw the rhetorical question into the mix.  
"Well...."  
"I gave up Michael for *his* own good, you gave Isla up for *your* own good,"  
"I didn't....."  
"You weren't around when she was born were you?"  
Chen accused, her brown eyes staring straight at him.  
"Neither was Frank,"  
He fired back. She reeled at the mention of Supernurse.   
"You walked away from her. You could have stayed couldn't you?"  
"Yes, but..."  
"Don't say it...It's a fear thing. Men are all the same,"  
Chen couldn't help distrusting the opposite sex. She'd been betrayed once and she didn't think she'd ever forgive it.  
"I couldn't have kept Michael. I loved my son but I couldn't have given him the life he deserved,"  
"I couldn't have stayed...I couldn't have been a father to her...I'm far too screwed up to take care of a kid,"  
"Excuses, excuses,"  
Chen shook her head. He stumbled over his words. He came across as an overgrown child. She disapproved, that much was blatantly obvious.  
"If you don't mind, I've got work to do,"  
She flicked her hair and turned away, her chin held high. She had a superiority complex and that hurt him. He knew she wondered about Michael. He  
wondered about his daughter too. He did care, no matter what Emma thought of him. Emma would be 23 now. 23 with a 5 year old. It wasn't right. He felt  
the guilt he so often kept buried rear it's ugly head again. 


	2. Chapter 2: It's All About Her

Chapter Two: It's All About Her  
  
I don't own the familiar ER characters of Chen/Malucci or Abby. I do own Emma Halliday and I do own her daughter Isla too. They are my creations.  
Rated PG for mild and occasional swearing.  
  
He hadn't thought so much about Emma and Isla in so long. He didn't know what had sparked it - whether it'd been the angry conversation with Chen or whether it had been triggered before then. Chen had successfully made him feel like shit about his actions. They were wrong. He knew that now. He hadn't known it then. He was young, carefree and cowardly.   
"You all right?"  
He heard the words, recognised the voice, but didn't turn to answer. He shrugged his shoulders and walked away from the older resident.  
"Dave?"  
His name echoed after him. He ignored it and kept walking. He wasn't even walking with a purpose, he was just walking to try and get away from the memories.   
"Now there's a face I recognise only too well,"  
Instantly, an image shot through his mind. He jerked his head up and scanned the hallway. Was he imagining it or not? It had been her voice. The sweet but slightly mocking tone she'd adopted when speaking to him, the voice he'd last heard those 5 long years ago.  
"Emma?"  
He whispered faintly, wondering if maybe he was crazy. No answer came. He figured he was imagining things. She wasn't standing there, her deep blue eyes  
as hurt and accusing as ever, pain written all over her beautiful face. All that was in the hall before him was the normal comings and goings of County ER.  
"You all right?"  
The voice was softer, female this time. He looked at her, met her eyes with his own sad gaze.  
"What's wrong?"  
"Nothing,"  
She searched the hall ahead of them for any sign of what he looked so shocked about and found nothing out of the ordinary.  
"I've been sent to look for you,"  
She spoke again, spooked because he was.  
"Yeah?"  
"There's a woman in Admit won't leave till she's seen you,"  
His mind spun. What? Who? Not Emma surely? He didn't believe in that kind of coincidence. That would just be too weird.   
"What'd she look like?"  
She drew her eyebrows together and looked at him, altogether puzzled by his reaction.  
"Blonde, average height, quite pretty...what's this about? You coming or not?"  
"I'll come."  
A realisation hit Chen suddenly. He started moving back towards the desk but she remained frozen, watching him. It couldn't be...could it?   
*****  
"Now there's a face I know too well,"  
The words were almost an exact echo of what he thought he'd heard earlier. His heart was beating double time. He raised his head and looked at his  
visitor. This wasn't possible. Wasn't happening.  
"Emma?"  
He didn't know why he had to ask. He knew who it was. She smiled sarcastically, bitingly.  
"Pleased to see me?"  
She rested her hands on the admit desk and caught his gaze with her own intense blue stare. It was cold, hateful and chilled him to the core.  
"What? Why?"  
He stammered over the words, desperately aware that all eyes in the ER were fixed on his confrontation with this mystery blonde. Little did they know though.  
"Is there anywhere more private? Everyone's gawping at us like we're a circus side show,"  
He led her into the lounge. Abby left sharpish on the receiving end of a pointed look. Emma stood, never removing her chilling stare from him, and smiled  
sarcastically.  
"Well, I was a nursing student wasn't I?"  
He struggled to remember. He realised he hadn't even known that. He really was the lowest wasn't he?  
"Oh, yeah,"  
He replied, unsure of himself.  
"Aren't you gonna ask?"  
He looked at her puzzled.  
"About your child you half-wit? Remember her..oh, well, maybe not,"  
"Emma...don't be like that...of course I remember,"  
She ignored him and carried on, venting frustrations carried with her for 5 years now.   
"Isla's fine. Not that you'll believe that of course. You always did think I was a liar,"  
"I never...."  
He nearly said "I never said that," but of course he virtually had.   
"Never what? You said it, Dave,"  
"I know I did,"  
There was something desperately sad, regretful in his voice. She ignored it, kept up her icy facade.   
"Still convinced she isn't yours?"  
"Em - I was scared...it wasn't an accusation or anything,"  
He never called her Em. Not once. It sounded too familiar. He didn't know what was going on.   
"It damn well sounded like one,"  
"Look...we need to....properly,"  
"Talk? You said all you needed to 5 years ago, Dave, I'm fine on my own,"  
She finished decisively. He stood, reeling in shock, considering her bitter tone. How could he blame her for hating him? He hated him most of the time.  
"You working the ER?"  
He changed the subject abruptly. How could they work together? It wouldn't work.   
"Would it matter if I was? Surely you aren't still that immature?"  
"Yeah, Emma, I exceeded all your expectations. I never grew up."  
"Like an evil Peter Pan,"  
"So are you?"  
He demanded, suddenly angry. He may be many things. A loser, a bastard, a lowlife, but he wasn't evil. Evil meant something completely different to him,  
something she didn't know. Her barbed comment hurt more than it was meant to.  
"No, you'll be relieved to know. I'm at Mercy, thankfully. And before you ask, you aren't seeing her,"  
"Emma...don't be unreasonable,"  
"She's managed so far without a father. With a father like you, it'd be better for her if you stayed out of her life,"  
How could he argue with her? He didn't expect her to be reasonable. He expected her to hate him. He expected her to be hateful, angry, vengeful. She  
intended to hurt him the way he hurt her. He should have seen that coming shouldn't he? Every bad thing you do comes back on you threefold. It would be  
better that he didn't see Isla. Deep down he knew that. Elsewhere, he was curious. He wondered about her, what she was like, who she was like. He hadn't been there, he'd excluded himself from her life, and now he'd just have to deal with the consequences. 


End file.
